Advanced Shadow Effect Options in PowerPoint 2010 for Windows

In this series of tutorials on Shape Effects in PowerPoint 2010, you have already learned to apply shadow effect to a shape. This detailed tutorial goes beyond the default options, and shows you how you can work further with shadow effects.

Follow these steps to get started:

1. Select the shape you want to apply the shadow effects to. You may also select a shape that already has shadow effect applied. Then double click the shape to activate the Drawing Tools Format tab in the Ribbon (see Figure 1). Within this tab locate the Shape Styles group and click the Shape Effects button that you can see in Figure 1 (highlighted in red).
2. 
   Figure 1: Drawing Tools Format tab of the Ribbon
Note: The Drawing Tools Format tab is a Contextual tab. These tabs are special tabs in the Ribbon that are not visible all the time. They only make an appearance when you are working with a particular slide object which can be edited using special options.
2. This brings up the Shape Effects drop-down gallery shown in Figure 2. From the Shape Effects drop-down gallery, choose Shadow | Shadow Options (the last option in Figure 2).
3. 
   Figure 2: Shadow Options within Shape effects
3. This opens the Shadow tab of the Format Shape dialog box, as shown in Figure 3.
4. 
   Figure 3: Shadow options within the Format Shape dialog box
5. The options in this dialog box are explained below:

A. Presets

6. Click the downward arrow next to the icon, which brings up the similar shadow gallery that you can see in Figure 2 above. See the Apply Shadow Effects to Shapes In PowerPoint 2010 tutorial for more information.

B. Color

7. Allows you to change the shadow color. Click the downward arrow next to color icon to access the Color fly out menu (see Figure 4). Here you can choose any color for the shadow.
8. 
   Figure 4: Shadow color options

i. Theme Colors

9. Here you can select any of the colors in the active Theme of the presentation. You can also select any of the 5 tints or shades for any Theme color. Learn more about Themes here.

ii. Standard Colors

10. You can choose any of the ten standard colors available. These ten standard colors are just choices of colors that PowerPoint believes to be widely used. You don't have to limit yourself to either the Theme colors or Standard colors, as we'll show you in the next options. Although, it's a good design idea to use Theme colors as far as possible.

iii. Recent Colors

11. Here you can find the colors most recently used. If you have just launched PowerPoint and created a new presentation, the Recent Colors option may be entirely absent since you haven't selected any color recently!

iv. More Colors

12. Provides more color choices, selecting this option summons the Colors dialog box with two tabs: Standard and Custom. First select the Standard tab (see Figure 5).
13. 
    Figure 5: Standard tab of the Colors dialog box
14. This tab offers 127 colors in a honeycomb style palette, 14 gray shades, black and white. You can even change the transparency value of the selected shadow color in the Transparency slider below, anything from 0% transparent (opaque) to 100% transparent.
15. If you want more color choices, then select the Custom tab of the same dialog box, as shown in Figure 6.
16. 
    Figure 6: Custom tab of the Colors dialog box
17. In this tab, you can choose any color from the spectrum and later adjust the selected color's luminosity with the slider on the right. You can even enter specific values of RGB and HSL to create a specific color. All these combinations provide 16 million color choices! Again, you can even change the transparency value of the selected color in the Transparency slider below.
18. Click OK to exit this dialog box.

C. Transparency

19. Allows you to alter the transparency of the shadow. You can use the slider, or type the shadow transparency value in percentages.

D. Size

20. Use the slider or enter the shadow size value in percentages to increase or decrease the size (spread) of the shadow.

E. Blur

21. This option makes the edges of the shadow more feathered (merged with the background). Again you can use the slider, or enter the blur value in points.

F. Angle

22. This slider changes the angle of the shadow in relation to the shape.

G. Distance

23. Allows you to format the starting and the ending point of the shadow in relation to the position of the shape. You can use the slider or insert the distance value in points.
4. Click Close to apply the shadow changes, and get back to the slide.
5. Remember to save your presentation often.